Persuasion
by CoteRangers
Summary: Tails suffered from the lost of his beloved one, Cosmo. One day, a dark stranger named Black Doom came to help him with the situation; he told the cub to collect the seven Chaos Emeralds and avenge Cosmo's death by killing Eggman and Shadow. Tails agreed, but didn't know the affect that'll cause to him, his friends, and Mobius in general...


As a young, two-tailed mobian fox opened the door of his workshop to see who banged it, he couldn't see anybody… but when he looked down, he noticed a newspaper sitting in front of his feet, lying down as if it were preparing to pounce on its prey. He picked it up, took off the elastic surrounding it, and glanced at the front headline. What the newspaper said was…

**Judgement Day is here!**

**The Black Comet is returning to Mobius, and will send the Black Arms to wreak havoc and destruction to our planet!**

The fox knew that anyone who read this would get frightened by the news… but he himself could care less. He never cared about anything… at least, after what happened 3 months ago. He was once as jolly as a singing bird, and as helpful as a well-trained dog… but no more after what he lost. Sighing, he turned his back and shut the door behind him. Looking as miserable as a sad song, he saw the one and only thing he cared about… a red, beautiful rose in a pot that sat on his desk with a lamp that hung above it with care. It was the only remains of the one he lost… a beautiful seedrian girl who he spent time with during his adventure three months ago. But she had sacrificed her life during the final battle against the Metarex. The fox blamed no other than himself for her death; he was the one who shot her with the Sonic Drive when she was immobilizing the planet egg of the Metarex. His once good friend, a blue mobian hedgehog who loved adventures, had tried to revive the seedrian… but the only thing he was able to get was a seed that the seedrian sprouted out when she died.

He moved towards the rose, and when he was right in front of it, he smiled and gently stroked its petals. He picked up the pot in which the rose was planted, and gently carried it to the sofa as if he were holding glass. He sat down on the sofa and turned on the television with a remote to watch some cartoons in order to cheer up. After a few minutes, he glanced down to his plant on his lap, once again feeling miserable, his mind roaming over the many sad questions he wished to find an answer for…

"Why, Cosmo…? Why did you have to leave me in despair? You shouldn't have sacrificed your life… we were meant to be together… yet you left me alone in my sorrow. Please, Cosmo… answer me."

Tears rolled down from his eyes onto his furry muzzle and slowly ran down to the bottom of his cheek, dropping into the soil of the flower. He closed his eyes and reminded himself of the time he was with Cosmo… Oh, was she so beautiful… her blue eyes, her sweet smile… she changed his life when he first met her. She was the only one who made him beyond happy. As he thought more and more about the girl, he was suddenly interrupted by a knocking at the door. He glanced behind him and hesitated whether or not he should open the door. After a few seconds, he shrugged it off and remained on his couch, reminiscing once again about the beautiful girl he was once with. As seconds went by, the knocking only grew louder and constant, to the point that the visitor was getting impatient.

Tails himself was getting irritated with the constant banging. "Go away! I'm busy!" he called to the visitor.

The pounding stopped, and a voice that he was well familiar with said, "Yo, uh, it's me. I need to talk to you, bro."

The cub immediately recognized that voice… that cocky, sassy voice that once gave him joy. He knew that it had been too long since he talked to the guy who he had once gone on adventures with, so he felt that he needed to talk to him at least once. He gently set the flower on the coffee table in front of him, and walked to the entry. Even before he opened the door, he knew what to expect: a blue mobian hedgehog who raised him as a young child; it was Sonic the Hedgehog, the Hero of Mobius.

"Hey, Tails! Long time, no see," greeted Sonic. "How you doin'?"

Tails, on the other hand, wasn't all that excited to see his long-time friend. "I'm fine… I guess," he moaned as he shrugged his shoulders.

Then awkward silence took over for about 10 seconds. The two brothers remained quiet and felt uncertain about the words they should say next. The Blue Blur was the first to break the silence, "So, uh, you mind if I come in?"

When he heard this, the two-tailed fox was, at first, hesitant about whether or not he should allow Sonic in his home. But something inside of him told him to do so anyways, because of how it had been so long since they had last seen each other, "Y-yeah, sure. Come in."

As Tails allowed Sonic in, the hedgehog began to explore the workshop like a cat exploring a new home. Nostalgia took him over as he reminisced more and more, recognizing tools and photos from the building the cub lived in. "Man, do I remember all these cool gadgets you built yourself. I'm surprised this old place hasn't changed a lot. I mean, it's been three months since I've last been here, right? And yet, everything looks the same as ever."

While Tails was pleased that his good friend knew everything he had, he still felt ill on the inside. Of course, he felt that way when he gazed on the rose that was sitting on the coffee table rather than at his good friend. Trying to ignore the blue hedgehog, he slowly walked towards the plant and picked it up from its pot. He was immediately reminded of Cosmo again as he gazed at the beautiful flower… He couldn't resist such beauty as the seedrian herself…

"Hey, anything wrong?" asked Sonic as he interrupted Tails' reminiscence.

Tails didn't immediately respond; he glanced at Sonic without turning his back, and then looked back to the rose. He was figuring out whether or not he should tell him the truth… about the event that anguished him. Finally, after a few moments of hesitation, he replied to his good friend, "It's… it's nothing, really."

Then Sonic asked something that Tails wasn't expecting at all. "It's that seed again, isn't it?"

_Oh God, Sonic knows about the rose?_ His eyes widened like a suspicious cat, and sweat ran down from his furry forehead; he didn't want anyone to know about the flower, and yet Sonic knew perfectly well about the cause of Tails' torment. The cub knew his hero gave him that seed which he had recovered, but he had pretended to shrug off his sadness after Cosmo's sacrifice, just Sonic would shrug it off as well. As he tried to keep an argument from breaking out between the two of them, he turned his head to Sonic and simply asked, "What seed?"

Sonic was not one to be fooled, "The one that grew up as a rose. Y'know, the one you're holding."

Even that took the fox by surprise. _How did he know that?_ the cub thought. _Was he secretly stalking me the whole time? No, it can't be. If he was, I would've noticed it months ago._ As he hesitated once more, he slowly turned around, his body shaking like a maracas. He looked like fear was overshadowing him, with his eyelashes lowered in agony, and both sides of his shortened mouth pointing downward in a frown.

The emotion of Tails alone took the Blue Blur by shock. He had never seen his closest friend looking so grim. He knew Tails' emotions right after Cosmo's death were a lot to take, but this… this was just something else. "Tails, you've never looked like this. Why do you look so scared?" he questioned carefully.

The cub didn't respond for a good second. When he did, he turned his back to Sonic as tears flowed out of his eyes. Then, he said in a desperate tone, "You don't want to know, Sonic. You just don't."

Seeing such fear clouding the mind of the brother he raised, Sonic felt badly for the kid the more he saw his pain. He knew that he had to help lift him out of his sadness, and so he did; he walked towards Tails and put his left hand on his brother's shoulder, patting it as if to comfort a fearful child. "I'm really sorry about Cosmo… I know you cared for her, possibly more than anyone you know. Look, I know it'll be harsh for me to say it… but you have to try to put the past behind you. It's the best thing you can do right now."

_Put the past behind me?_ The cub hesitated. _No… I don't want to leave something that has meant so much to me. Why should I do that? Just, why…?_ The more he envisioned the consequences of leaving Cosmo behind, the more tension flowed through his veins. He could not abandon his memories. He did not want to abandon his memories. The idea of putting the past behind him wouldn't work for him, at least that was what he believed. As the ball of tension in his gut grew bigger and bigger, he snapped and roared at his brother, "**Never!" **The blue hedgehog leaped back in shock. When he saw Sonic's reaction to his offense, Tails realized his actions risked pushing his good friend away. As he started to calm down and realize his mistake, he quickly pivoted away from the hedgehog and started to sob miserably, "I'm so sorry, Sonic… Please… just leave…"

Sonic knew how much pain the cub was suffering in his depression. The loss of Cosmo made a huge impact on his little brother, and left him to a never-ending life of despair. Tails did love Cosmo, and Cosmo did love Tails. Knowing that the cub wanted to be alone, the Blue Blur left the room without a word. He walked out of the workshop, letting out a long, quiet sigh.

* * *

It was noon. Tails remained in his room alone with his rose where, once again, he was reminiscing about his time with Cosmo. He couldn't stop himself, nor did he want to; he wanted a way to have Cosmo back in his arms, where they would be together once again. Sighing at the impossibility, he glanced at his beautiful flower… he couldn't stop appreciating the beauty that it held.

But then he noticed something. When he raised his head, he observed that his room had gotten a bit darker. Everything was covered in shadow, and the sun wasn't there to lure it away. The cub wondered why it was dark in his room, since he knew it wasn't nighttime. He walked to his window, took a glimpse outside, and noticed something terrifying: The sky was covered by a dark blood-red cloud. Lightning streaked down from the cloud, and from a distance, he could see a hole resembling a cyclone, right in the middle. And out from that hole streamed a seemingly unending line of ugly red and black aliens all the way down to Mobotropolis. The aliens, upon landing, began to destroy everything in their path: cars, soldiers, buildings, and even innocent civilians.

Immobilized with fear, Tails stared out the window. What was happening? People running everywhere and screaming in terror were being mowed down mercilessly by the black aliens. Tails spun around to run out the door – to do what, he had no idea – when he heard laughter… dark, chilling and evil laughter. _What the…?_ he began, but the laughter only came again, this time louder… at least, it seemed like it. The laughter gave Tails goose bumps, as if it was crawling all over his skin.

Suddenly the room turned from shady to completely pitch-black. He couldn't see anything: not his framed picture of him and Sonic, not the old shoes that Sonic gave him… it was all gone. All he could still see was the flower he held from the pot. Not even the floor was there; in fact, he couldn't feel the wooden floor at all, and he felt like he was floating in the darkness. As anxiety filled him, he heard a voice—a dark, chilling and echoing voice—that made his bones freeze for a few seconds.

"Miles… you seemed troubled," the voice said.

The anxious cub struggled to turn to see who the voice belonged to. His body fought the urge to look, making him rattle like a vibrator. Finally, he turned to the point where he saw something that made him yelp: it was one of the gruesome aliens from the red sky, but it looked different from the others. This alien had two long spikes hanging from both sides of its head. It had no legs, but didn't need any because it was…levitating! Dark brown ripped clothing was covered with dark brown and yellow armour, and a heavy chain hung from the front. He was also taller than the aliens Tails had seen coming from the cloud. But perhaps the most disturbing feature of the alien was his face; he had no mouth or nose, but rather 3 orange eyes on the front aligned to form a triangle, with the upper eye containing a reptile-like pupil. And it was as if all three of those eyes were staring into Tails' soul.

The cub cowered before the alien's probing look, trying to back away from him in the floorless space. But oddly enough, the creature didn't bother attacking the child. "Do not fear; I'm not going to hurt you," he said to Tails.

As much as the cub didn't want to believe the alien's word, he slowly stopped struggling to run from the empty space that was holding him in place. "Who are you? What do you want from me?" asked the fox.

"I am Black Doom, the leader of the Black Arms." Then he answered the second question in a way that surprised Tails, "I am here… to help you."

"To help me…?" repeated the cub. How could that gruesome leader actually help him with something? The child wasn't finished with his questions, "Help me with what?"

After a very short pause, Black Doom answered "To free you from your depression. You see, I have heard that you have lost someone valuable and caring. You spent a lot of time with that one person, but she sacrificed her life to save the universe from a certain disaster, thus leading you to eternal despair. I also feel badly that you suffer because of the other Mobians in your past, and how the young love between you and the one had to suffer because of Dark Oak's mistake. I have come here to help you out of your depression." He took a breath before continuing, "By reviving that person, just for you."

_He can seriously do that?_ questioned the cub in his head. He felt somehow that the alien was only lying to him, "Impossible… no one can revive Cosmo. She's been dead for months. I can't find a way to get her back."

But Black Doom had a solution to Tails' problem. "With my help, you can… because I have the power to resurrect living beings from the dead."

Tails was stunned; he had the power to do that? "Um, okay then. Can you revive her now, then?"

"I cannot revive her without the help of a powerful source of energy. In this case, I need the seven Chaos Emeralds to do so."

A pause took over again, this time longer. The cub hesitated whether or not he should find the Chaos Emeralds and hand them over to this enigmatic being to bring Cosmo back to life. He knew that Sonic wouldn't want him to do this, but he felt that if he wanted to bring Cosmo back, then he had to believe Black Doom. "Alright, I'll bring the Chaos Emeralds to you," agreed Tails after a long pause.

"Good…" Black Doom looked pleased with Tails' decision. But he wasn't finished. "Now, the last thing I need to revive your love is the rose you're holding."

_No! That's impossible,_ the cub worried in his head,_ He's asking too much. _As he stared at the flower in the pot he was holding, he thought about how beautiful the rose was, and how he could never give it up. Then again, if he took the chance, Cosmo could be resurrected with the help of Black Doom, so having Cosmo in her full form was better than having her only remains. Closing his eyes in hesitation, he struggled to extend his arms to give the rose to Black Doom, feeling them trying to pull the pot back. After a moment's struggle, he realized his hands were empty. His eyes flew open and he saw Black Doom holding the pot with telekinesis.

"Now, you know what you must do," continued the dark stranger. "Find the seven Chaos Emeralds, and bring them to me as promised. And if any of the Mobians stand in your way, kill them."

The alien leader disappeared, and the space around Tails suddenly changed, his room returning to its original state. He could even feel the floor below his feet. Black Doom was nowhere to be seen, and his beloved flower was no longer there either. _What was that all about?_ the cub asked himself. He attempted to piece together the words of the stranger as if he were figuring out a puzzle. _Collect the Chaos Emeralds… Give them to Black Doom… Revive Cosmo using them…_ He looked outside his window, taking in the hordes invading the city. He knew that civilians were being killed by the Black Arms, but he didn't want to betray Black Doom. He would search for the Chaos Emeralds but vowed he would kill no one from either sides. Knowing what he had to do, he headed outside and made his way to Mobotropolis to search for the Chaos Emeralds.


End file.
